Gunbird

When a player collides with the body of an enemy unit, the player loses a shot power level, and a power up flies around the screen and disappears as soon as it reaches the edge. If a player is at the lowest level of shot, the player loses a bomb instead.

There are seven stages in each of the game's two loops. The first three stages are randomly chosen from possible four. In the second loop enemies fire denser bullet patterns moving at faster speeds. Stage 2-1 takes place at the only stage not available on the first loop, instead of the 1-1 counterpart.

Gunbird uses manga-styled character as the player's chosen craft. A story plays out in between levels and before boss fights, telling a tale of how the protagonists are trying to collect pieces of a magic mirror to make a wish.

Ash (アッシュ): A 28-year-old German man with a jet pack on his back, who in some of the scenes between battles is discovered to be an inventor, and when two players choose Marion and Ash as cooperative partners, he takes an unhealthy interest in her. Voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu.

The game was released in Japan for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn on December 15, 1995.

The game was released in North America as Mobile Light Force for the PlayStation. All in-game plot in this version, including the game's ending, was removed and character names were changed to those of XS Games employees. The game featured a Charlie's Angels-style cover picture, completely unrelated to the original characters or the game's theme. The original's fan art gallery was also removed from the game, although the directories are still intact on the disc if inserted into a PC.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Gunbird on their November 15, 1994 issue as being the ninth most-popular arcade game for the previous two weeks. Japanese publication Micom BASIC Magazine ranked the game eighth in popularity in its January 1995 issue. Gamest awarded it at the eighth annual "Gamest Awards", taking 4th place in the "Best Shooting Award". Hardcore Gaming 101's Nick Zverloff found the game very enjoyable but felt that it lacked the polish of later Psikyo titles. In an article for the mook Play This Retro Game!, writer Kaze no Iona commented that while the game has a conventional control system, it is well-paced compared to 1980s shooters, noting that the flashy power-ups make shooting fun.

The PlayStation version was met with mixed reception from critics. The game received a score of 21.4 out of 30 in a readers' poll conducted by the Japanese PlayStation Magazine.